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Friday, May 3, 2013

BEST comment on the Joe Rose Ticket machine fiasco

Victor Kruger

Somewhere
along the line, both Trimet supporters and Trimet enemies will have to
come to grips with a basic truth. Almost all the problems that Trimet
users face are both REAL and NOT inherent characteristics of urban mass
transit.

Trimet light rail has a serious security problem on
virtually all of its lines. Including those serving relatively higher
income Beaverton/Aloha/Hillsboro, so it is not an issue of MAX passing
through low-income communities of color in NE/SE PDX and Gresham, as
racist conservatives like to claim. Denying it, and denying that Trimet
management would rather give themselves fat raises than pay for serious
security upgrades, does not help the cause of urban mass transit in the
Portland metro region.

The issue of poorly managed fare
machines again falls directly on the shoulders of Trimet management, not
on some conspiracy by anti-mass transit conservatives to promote
falsehoods.

Another inconvenient truth is that many so called
"liberal" politicians, including John Kitzhaber, prefer to campaign on
support for urban mass transit than actually support its customers, once
they fool voters into electing them. They campaign on support for urban
mass transit to garner federal dollars to enlarge their personal power,
not because they care about safe, effective efficient mass transit or
the riders who depend upon it.

They have allowed Trimet to be
controlled and run by a bunch of lazy overpaid underperforming
incompetent bureaucrats in a classic, "you scratch my back and I'll
scratch yours" cynical political model. Everybody gets federal dollars
to expand the system, everybody's income increases, the system is forced
to erode basic services to the average user to stay within budget,
fares skyrocket to insane levels and the system makes more enemies than
supporters. Riders suffer, victimized by poor service, a dangerous lack
of security and unaffordable fares.

While Kitzhaber and his
claque of faux-liberals can go to Washington and brag on being
progressive supporters of public mass transportation. With "friends"
like John Kitzhaber and his sycophants, who needs Lars Larson?